Center-bearing girder-rail and splice-joint



(No Model.)

A. J. MOXHAM.

CENTER BEARING GIRDER RAIL AND SPLICE JOINT.

No. 355,782. Patented Jan. 11,1887.

atofney fnvenzor Unite STATES ATENT ries.

ARTHUR J. MOXHAM, JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,782, dated January 11, 1887.

Application'filed September 16, 1886. Serial No. 213,673. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. MOXHAM, of J ohnstowii, in the county of Oambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Center-Bearing Girder-Rail and Splice-Joint therefor, which invention is fully set forth and illustrated in the following specification and accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to dispense dinary type, the dotted lines thereon, marked by the letters 0 0, illustrating change of form,

hereinafter described. Fig. 2 illustrates arail similar in general exterior lines to that illustrated in Fig. 1, but having the surplus or useless metal, as shown at the places marked 7) I), removed. Fig. 3 illustrates a rail of the same form of head as that illustrated in Fig. 2, but the lower port-ion or foot of whose web is filleted,instead of terminating in a wide flange.

In said figures the several parts are indicated by letters, as hereinafter described.

In the ordinary rail the lower portion of each side tram is continued directly to the web, as shown at c c in Fig. 1. The dotted lines in said figure, however, showa certain section or portion of the under part of the head, which contributes nothing to the life or durability ofthe rail, and which in many cases is not necessary for its stiffness or strength. Such part is displaced by the invention herein described and claimed. This invention, there fore, applies entirely to the headof the rail, and its web and lower portion may be of any of the well-known forms.

It will be notedthat the filletsll on the two edges of the head proper are much more rounded off in Figs. 2 and 3 than in Fig. 1, the ordinary rail. It will also be noted that the fillets 2 2 at the angles formed between the side trams and the head proper are sharper and of smaller radiusthan is the case with the ordinary rail. the shaping of the rail in its manufacture. This conformation, however, though considered advantageous, is not positively necessary, for th" corners 1 1 could by subsequent roll action be rendered sharper,and, if desired, the fillets 2 2 could be given a more gradualturn, the object of making said parts short, as shownin the drawings, being by a more rigid bend at these points to secure a greater stiffness and rigidity of structure than would otherwise be the case.

In Fig. 2 is shown a form of splice-bar, E, which,by the anglesides c e on the upper portion Such conformation facilitates of the same, secures a bevel or splice'bar fit against the under part of the trains at points beyond the immediate neighborhood of the web. The lowerportion,ff, of each splice-bar is of the ordinary shape; but such splice-bars have each their angle portions reversed and placed uppermost,instead ofbearing on a lower flange of rail, as is the usual custom with angle splice-bars. By means of this reversal the advantages of a splicebar fit are maintained, and, if desired,the lower portion of each splice bar can be similarly formed, as shown by dotted linesg g, in order to equalize the bearing when using the rail with a lower flange, as shown in Fig. 2.

The form of rail herein described and claimed can be readily manufactured by roll ing in'rolls such asare described and claimed in my application No. 213,670, herewith filed.

Having thus fully described my said i rn-.

proveincnts, as of my invention I claim- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a cen ,tially as described, and forming splice-joints between contiguous rails, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

ARTHUR J. MOXHAM. lVitnesses:

W. E. HoorEs, O. B. POWELL. 

